When someone tells you you’re “too young to understand” don’t tell them you’re age, tell them “you don’t understand me.” And when that group of girls in your class sits back and laughs because they think you aren’t pretty enough to be here, look in the mirror and smile at your inner beauty. When your dad starts to yell and your brother balls his hands in a fist, do not get involved. Just go to your room and listen to your favorite songs because I promise you, it’s not your fault. When your brother hits the floor and swears like the devil you just cover your ears because your pretty little head doesn’t need to be filled with all of that hated. When the police officers come to your house and ask if you’re okay, say yes. It may not be the truth, but at least they won’t worry. When you watch you’re 18-year-old brother get hauled away in handcuffs to the hospital, the ambulance and police lights flashing in your yard, the neighbors ask what the hell is this circus, and you see your mother cry, remind yourself there’s nothing you could’ve done. When you lie in bed awake at night with the fright that you might not be able to survive another tomorrow, remind yourself that you are amazing. When you question if you’re going to get married one day because “who could love me?” I promise you, one day, you’ll meet him and he will make you feel like a princess. When the people in your town look at you funny and call you retarded, you look them dead in the eye say “don’t you dare say that word again.” When someone tells you that you’re “too young to understand” remind yourself that you have a story, too. That you lived through a lot and no one can tell your story better than you can. Because who knows, maybe one day the last chapter in yours, could be the first page to someone else’s.